Month: August 2007

Days of moaning and groaning just showed me how reliant I have become on this machine :((

Yes we are back on line and the household is running as smooth as usual. This episode did prove to me I have a problem and made me see how much I had missed out on other things.

I did lots of knitting during the few evenings DH tried to fix the machine and I also read a new book; these two things were just ordinary run of the mill happenings a few years ago and unless I make a special effort I never get round to doing them. I used to say our new technology wouldn’t make a difference to our household – oh was I wrong.

Anyway the book I read was by Jacquelyn Mitchard – Cage of Stars, and I haven’t read anything that moved me so much for a very long time. Tears rolled down my face at times and I couldn’t wait to get to the end.

A while ago I read another by her called The Deep End of the Ocean and that also was something I couldn’t put down till I finished.

Will have to check the library for others.

Lovely day today, good gardening weather. Has been very cold overnight this week about 4-5c/40f but its been going up to 16-17c/60f and so I ghave managed to get a lot more done in the garden. Still no rain tho and none forecast either. Sounds like a broken record doesn’t it.

Will be gone for a little while Dh has really ‘stuffed things up’ and we have ‘nothing’

No computer No nothing

Hope its not too long

See you

Another dry day today so I have been emptying the last of my compost heap onto the garden. Kiera our brown Burmese follows me most places and she thought she’d check out the almost empty space – about the same time as Mr Magpie.

This area is tucked away down the side of the garage but close enough for me to get to when I need something.

That big blue drum is where I’m starting the next load – we haven’t mown the grass for months so its been slow going. Theres been loads of leaves and weeds but because I saw some mice I’ve been wary of putting food scraps (peelings etc) there. The possums have been hungry so I’ve left fruit in another place for them. When we get more things to add I’ll roll it over and spread it on the heap area and well go from there.

I’ve been turning a spot over and adding to the soil as this year I’ve decided to go back to growing Tomatoes in the ground instead of the big tubs I used this past couple of seasons. Even tho they need sunshine and warmth they didn’t fare well as the tubs got really hot in the sun (I tried wrapping them in a wet sack but it didn’t work as we were wasting water ) plus the fact it was impossible to keep up enough water to them.

Kiera wandered off so Mr Magpie came down onto land and looked off to see if anyone else was around

All clear so he set to looking for goodies in amongst what was left of the black gold on the ground.

You can see bigger photos by clicking to enlarge.

Yes we are home again

Had one granddaughter to stay overnight on Friday – after being a very meek little girl who whinged and whined about everything she has now developed into a very confident, out there nearly 9 year old We never know what to expect with her hence the picture above of her with our 2 cats.

Could I have a picture taken with Leroy and Kiera was was what she actually asked – not can I frighten the life out of them:)

Good job Burmese are the best family cat you could ever get. They just lay back and take all the surprises that come their way.

Later after breakfast it had warmed up so she went out onto the deck to say “Sorry” to Leroy. The word is that Melbourne is having an early Spring as so many blossoms are out and I spied snowdrops in my garden the other day. You can view a larger picture by clicking on the image

I don’t mind the sunshine and warmer days as it means I can get out and do some gardening but please may we have some more rain.

Yes only 2 more sleeps till I’ll be flying home.

Its been a trying time this past few days, trying to look after the children whilst their Mother is in the house has been a challenge.

Instead of resting upstairs in her bed she has insisted on being down in the lounge on the couch which has mean’t both boys have wanted to climb all over her and then get very upset when told (by her) not to.

Enough said – and of course with the Father running a business from home but coming in and out of the office every now and again and carrying on at them its been a ‘lovely’ few days.

One really great thing however has been that the weather in Sydney has been just what I needed. Dry and sunny and WARM.

Yes WARM – up to about 24c yesterday and I spent a lot of it just sitting reading and watching the boys in their shaded sandpit. Eat your heart out Melbourne :))

I do miss my own bed and can’t wait to get back to it.

We are going to have an eclipse of the moon towards the end of the month – look here (Melbourne Planetarium site) scroll down the page a bit and there is all the info.

Something unusual to look forward to so I will have to mark the calendar but I’m sure it will be in the papers and on the news.

Look further down and you’ll see the sunrise and sunset times – it becoming really noticable that the days are lengthening and when they are sunny and dry its a pleasure to be outside.

It been a lovely day today so I managed to get some more gardening done, went to the Big Green Barn (Bunnings) for some more cow manure and taking them out of the car managed to catch one of the bags on the window handle.

Well its smells quite ‘country’ in there at the moment, took ages to vacuum it all up – thank goodness we have an ald one we use to clean the cars out. It would have meant a trip to a car wash place if I had ot use the one from inside – I may well have to do that anyway if the ‘healthy’ smell doesn’t go away. :))

Yes its been rather windy here yesterday and today. DH and I spent a long time yesterday cutting up a large branch from a Banksia Spinulosa that had come down overnight and was all over the driveway. Bit of a shame as it has the most beautiful huge great candles on it at the moment.

I had an inkling something would happen as I thought there had been a drop in the foliage during the evening – noticed the end of the branch was closer to my car when I was going to the rubbish bin so as it was dark and raining just moved the car out of the way and hoped it didn’t fall too close if it did come down overnight.

Yes I know but there wasn’t much we could do at that time of the night, it was blowing a gale and pouring and the Banksia is 25 years old and if its going to lose a branch so be it.

Its in the driveway chopped it into smaller pieces and now all I have to do is persuade one of the sons to load it into his trailer and take it to the tip for me.

Found out today we’ll be off to Sydney again next week.

Daughter in law is going into hospital for a cholecystectomy (lap- choly) in other words removal of her gall bladder so we are needed to mind the two boys for a few days. This operation is nothing like it used to be – no big long incision these days its done by the laproscopic technique through small incisions in the front of the body. So she will be in and out in a couple of days, resting afterwards is the most important thing, hope the boys realise that and don’t want her attention all the time.

Lovely clear day today, got the washing dry outside which is good as the forecast is for temperatures going down very low ( been loads of snow again up in the ski resorts ) and also lots of rain over the weekend.